Futility
by Nightlock95
Summary: Peeta Mellark has been chasing the same girl for three years, Katniss Everdeen after moving back to his old school from abroad. Will he be able to move on? Set in modern times and at school. It's a bad summary but please give it a read.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note; ****This is fanfic that will be very close to me as this is basically something i've been through, so I hope you like it and if this first chapter gets a good enough response, I will keep writing. Please review and let me know what you think.**

Have you ever heard of love at first sight? I never used to believe in it myself. That was until I saw Katniss Everdeen. We hadn't spoken before and to be honest I didn't even know her before my friends pointed her out. I've just come back from spending a year living abroad, I had come to the same school before I left and have been lucky enough to be accepted in again but I'm guessing that is because I'm well known by a few of the teachers. My friends Finnick and Thresh had pointed her out as she had actually came from where I lived that year. It was like I was instantly attracted to her, even though her eyes flitted to mine for about half a second. The way she was smiling at one of her friends as she looked at me so it looked like she was smiling at me. Her chocolate hair was artistically weaved into a beautifully complex French plait; a single strand had fallen out and was hanging across her face. I wanted to talk to her. I couldn't stop thinking about her all day but I didn't see her again to talk to her and I was always looking out for a glimpse of her. It took me a week to actually start a conversation with her, I though it would be really awkward but conversation flowed so easily and there wasn't a single silence. We talked and talked and talked on end for weeks and became really close and it had me believing that we could actually become something more. I could imagine the perfect-ness of us being together, picture us walking across the beach together and holding hands, walking with our feet in the water, cuddling on the sofa watching a film but apparently that wasn't on the cards. Even today, three years since the first time I first saw her, I still love her. It's a feeling that comes and goes. We wouldn't talk for months on end and I would feel like I'd moved on and was over her but even if we had the simplest of conversations, I would fall for her all over again, no matter how much I tried to avoid it. Of course I've had girlfriends in-between but none that have lasted past a month and none of them giving me the same uplifting feeling that she gives me. I've thought about confessing my feelings to her many a time but I've never found the right time or the right words, or even the courage to.

"Peeta stop looking at her." Finnick's whispering voice pulls me out of my trail of thought. I look around to him and see he is smirking at me as. He's sitting next to me in our English class. I hadn't even realised but he was right, I was watching the back of Katniss, who was sitting a couple of rows in front of me. Her hair is down today, falling in waves down her back. How can she still be having this effect on me? That she can pull me into a trance without having to do anything and without me even realising. I shift in my seat, feeling myself starting to blush at being caught looking at her.

"Is there anything wrong Mr. Mellark?" The high pitched voice of Miss Trinket, our English teacher rings out from the front of our classroom.

"Erm no.. no miss Trinket." I quickly mutter out as the eyes of all my class mates turn to me, making me feel uncomfortable and blushing even more. I turn my own gaze down to look at my books on the table to avoid everyone's stares. I hear Trinket continue her lecture on Romeo and Juliet so I chance a look back up to see if she is the new focus. Thankfully she is for everyone except one, she smiles at me softly and before I can return it, Katniss turns back around to face the front. There it is again, the warm feeling that grows in my chest and in that small moment I know she has me hooked once more. I hear a groan from my left and turn to Finnick to see him roll his eyes and sorrowfully shake his head. He knows exactly what's happened without even needing to speak to me. Finnick has been my friend even before I left the school, we've known each other for ten years and we know each other like brothers. He is somewhat of a girl magnet, with his green eyes and perfectly styled bronze coloured hair. We are both on the football team but he has a much more athletic build than I do, so yeah, a girl magnet. I only met Thresh once I came back to school as he was friends with Finnick but I had seen him around before. Thresh and I are no where near as close as Finnick and I are but he is still a great friend.

The school bell goes off signalling the end of the lesson and we all start to pack our things up and grab our bags from under the table. I pick up my hoodie from on the back of my chair and pull it on, then from my bag strap over my head and head to the door. We file out into the English plaza and I wait for Finnick to come out. Person after person spill out from the class and each glance at me before they head of in different directions for the lunch break. Katniss is the next to come out, talking with her friend Gale. Gale and Katniss are always together and a rage of jealousy shoots through me. Nobody knows what kind of relationship they actually have, whether they are just friends or if there is a possibility for them to be more, either way they are always together. I can't stand to look at him smiling and laughing with her so I turn my attention to some of the displays littered on the walls.

"Are you ok?" The most beautiful voice hits my ears and I turn back around to see Katniss standing beside me and Gale walking off towards the doors, glancing back as he goes. She is slightly shorter than me and her grey eyes are reflecting the lights of the room, making them look like they are shining.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. You?" I reply slightly cautious.

"I'm good too. You just seem a bit….off today." She says and is it me or is there a shimmer of concern in her voice? Probably not, I'm probably just looking to deep into things like I usually do.

"Yeah, I've just got some things on my mind." I reply honestly. I actually have been having problems at home, the basis of it is that my mother is a psychopath.

"Well, if you ever need to talk about it, you can talk to me." She smiles up at me and I want to believe her but these kind of lines are normally open gestures and out of everyone, I don't want her knowing how fucked up my life is.

"Thanks you, it means a lot." I return her smile and with a nod of her head, she slowly turns around and walks off in the direction that Gale had gone. I sigh to myself wishing I wasn't so nervous around her so we could talk longer but I guess it's better than nothing.

"Come on bro, we need to talk." Finnick pats me on the back and we start walking to the route to the field, where we normally go to eat our lunch.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note; ****Hey any readers out there! I'm really enjoying writing this fic and I hope you are and will enjoy this just as much! Please review as they mean everything to me, bad or good, i will try and relpy to them all and take on board everthing you say :) just remember, the more you review, the more motivation I have to write more and faster ;)**

"Dude, you need to stop this." Finnick confronts me as we are walking across the field in search for our other friends.

"You don't think I've tried Finnick? Do you think I actually enjoy the feeling of loving someone unconditionally and having them not like you back?" I nearly shout at him. He above anyone else should how much I struggle with this whole situation. I want to get over her, I really do but I just can't. I hear him take a deep breath in and I can hear the intervention talk coming on.

"Peeta, I know it's hard for you but you just need to distract yourself, practise football more, get a girlfriend just stop looking out for her and getting yourself involved in this crap.." He says, scratching his head as he tries to get the words out and I can tell he is holding back from being harsh.

"Like the last girlfriends I had? The ones who I hurt because I couldn't stay with them because of the guilt?" I counter, I'm never going to do that again.

"Then just do it for a hook up, some girls dig a one nighter." He nearly chuckles.

"And make myself feel even guiltier? I can't do that to a girl Fin, I'm not like that." He sigh, there's no way out of it, it's a game of waiting, although I would have thought three years would have been long enough to wait..

"Well dude, bad relationships and one night stands are part of life, they are nothing to be guilty about. Just don't get your hopes up again, I can't stand watching you get all depressed anymore.. It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart " And I can here the sadness in his voice as he dropped his gaze from mine.

"Hey! Yo! Over here!" Both Finnick and I turn our heads to the direction of the voice and see Cato, Thresh, Clove and Johanna over on the football pitch, Cato and Thresh passing a ball between them and the girls sitting by the sideline. It was Cato that had shouted at and was calling us over for a kick about. Cato then shot the ball in our direction and I easily control it by letting it hit me in the chest and it falls down to my feet to chip it up and kick it into the goal, hard. Johanna and Clove both cheer out and I mockingly take a bow and walk over to where they are sitting.

"Hey Beckham!" Clove shouts as I take a seat opposite them. She's another one of my best friends but I feel awkward with her sometimes as she fancies me but of course I didn't want to risk going into that zone with her, especially being in the predicament I'm in at the moment.

"Hey girls, how's it going?" I ask as I readjust my bad so I can lean back on it.

"Well I've already been told off by Mr. Abernathy in PE today for telling him what a dumb ass idea it is for having to run laps to play table tennis seeing as though you don't have to move to be able to play" She laughs, which makes Clove and I laugh as well.

"What you guys laughing about?" Cato calls as he jogs over, with Thresh and Finnick bringing up the rear.

"The ridiculousness of PE." Johanna chuckles again.

"I agree with you there Jo, me and Katniss were talking about it in our lesson."

"You what?" Finnick said before I could utter a word, deliberately I'm guessing. I shot my head up to stare at Cato. No. She can't be going for Cato, one of the biggest players in the school.

"Yeah, she's a pretty cool gal, I might see if she wants to hang sometime." I feel my jaw hang open as I take in what he is planning to do. No way will she go for it. No way. I see Finnick watching me from the corner of my eye and I try my best not to show any emotion and definitely not to show any anger. I'm just going to have to bottle it up and then put it all into slide tackling him in football training tonight. Fucking douche is in for it now, you do not want to piss off a defender. Nobody carries on the conversation and I'm so grateful for it as I don't know how long I can contain this anger.

"I gotta go." I grab my bag and throw it around my head and walk away from them.

"Peeta?" I here Clove call out from behind me but I ignore her needing my space to calm down. I know Finnick won't try and chase me, he knows me too well. Katniss and Cato. Katniss and Cato. Cato and Katniss? No. That can't happen. I'd rather Gale be with her than having to see her with one of my friends. Well, he would be an ex-friend if that's what it came to, I wouldn't be able to be around them, holding hands, kissing, erggh it makes me feel sick. I don't quite know where I'm going seeing as though there is still like half an hour left of lunch, to be honest I just want to go home and I would too if I didn't have football training tonight and if you miss one training without a brilliant excuse like you're dying or something you are off the team for a match. No excuses. The only place I can think of where no one else will be is the library. I swear if I smoked, this is one of the times where I would need a fag.

* * *

I walk back into the school and climb the stairs that lead to the library which is next to the English plaza. I walk in there and head for my favourite comfortable arm chair in the corner next to the long windows looking out to the road outside of the school. I drop my bag next to it and throw myself down with a sigh. I hope Katniss isn't silly enough to fall for Cato, with his persistent charming and flirting. I reluctantly pull some of the homework from today out of my back. I think I'll start with Art, maybe it can relieve some of this stress. I flip through the pages of my sketch book to a fresh page and pull my sketching pencil out of my bag. I never know what I'm going to actually draw until lines form into something and I carry on from there but today I know what I'm drawing. I start by drawing the long stems that shoot across the page, I then draw the leaves that look like arrowheads and lastly draw the small flowers by the top, each with three petals and the pollen in the middle of the petals, which will be coloured purple.

"That's such a good drawing.." I shoot my head up in surprise and nearly ruin my drawing as my arms tense and nearly shoot across the page. Its Katniss. Crap and she just caught me drawing a Katniss Plant.

"Oh, hey." I stutter, praying she doesn't make the connection between her and the drawing.

"How did you learn to draw like that?" She asks as comes a bit closer but stops as she sees me watching her.

"Haha, a LOT of practise!" I laugh. I don't normally sketch like this, I'm more of a painter than a drawer. Painting's don't have to be as precise and can show a lot more feeling in the strokes and colours than harsh lines of pencil." I explain as I add a couple more outlines to the arrowhead leaves.

"I can't do any type of art, I'm more of a scientific mind myself, not an ounce of creativity in me." She laughs.

"I'm sure that's not true. You're pretty good in English. That counts as creativity as it's all your own perception." I say and look up to her and smile.

"I never really thought about that, some of the things I say seem blatantly obvious.." She says, uncertainty in her voice.

"Not at all, that just shows how good you are at it." I smile at her again, which she returns. This is one of those moments I was talking about. One of the moments where something will happen between us and my hopes get up thinking she may feel the same about me but each time it happens, I can't stop it happening again.

"What lessons have you got left today?" I ask her, trying to keep the conversation up.

"Ermmm.. Maths and Biology I think." She smiles. She must be the only one who can smile with the idea of having these two subjects together, but she's different, that's what makes her special. The school bell goes again signalling the end of lunch, interrupting our conversation.

"Oh, I better go, don't want to be late for Maths." She smiles and puts a book back that she was clutching to her chest. "Speak to you later,"

"Oh alright, see ya." I say. She spins around and starts walking towards the doors and I can't help but watch her hips sway slightly as she walks. I pack up my stuff, looking over my drawing before shutting the sketchbook and putting it in my bag. I get up and start heading for my next lesson.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note; ****Here's another one for you :) I am soooo enjoying writing this one. Thank you for the follows and favourites but please get those REVIEWS IN! Motivation people! If you havn't already, check out my other fic, it's a bit more serious but hey ho, it's District High. Enjoy :)**

It's finally got to the time that I can let all my anger out. I get out of my jeans and t-shirt and replace them with my shorts and football shirt. I put on my shin pads, strap them around the back and slide my socks on over them. I dig into my gym back and pull out my football studs and lastly put them on. As I sit and wait for the rest of the team to hurry up and finish getting changed I think back to what happened during the day. Instantly the anger bubbles inside me as I think back to Cato talking about Katniss. It didn't help that Clove was in both of my last lessons and she kept asking me if I was ok and I could feel her watching me so I couldn't distract myself and think about something else.

"I know you probably want to break his neck, but don't do anything rash and get him injured, we've got an important match next weekend. Besides he doesn't even know you like her bro, he may not have said anything if he did." Finnick comes and sits next to me, also ready for practise.

"So he would just do it behind my back and date her anyway?" I spit out.

"Dude, you know that's not what I meant. Stop being so sour." He laughs, trying to lighten the mood.

"Maybe.. Come on let's go, I can't stand to sit here anymore." I say and ruffle his hair as I get up and walk past him.

"Dude, you never touch the hair, no matter how shit you're feeling." He shouts and I hear him coming thundering towards me and I take off in a sprint towards the football pitch. I know he won't catch me, one disadvantage of having a hulk like physique is that he isn't as fast as me. I look behind me as I draw nearer and nearer to the pitch and see he is way behind so I slow, conserving my energy for on pitch. Laughing to myself at Finnick I grab a football out of the bag and start practising my keepy uppies as I wait for the others to get here. After I finish my second chain, Finnick reaches me, doubling over trying to catch his breath, which makes me laugh at him again.

"Dude….. You… Shit.. Cato is screwed if you're after him today." He says in-between large breaths and then laughs as he collapses on the grass, his arms stretching over his head, trying his best to steady his breath and heart rate.

"You need to lay off the cakes Fin, no more freebies at work." I sarcastically say to him.

"Nooo! What's the point of having a baker as a friend and not getting freebies?" He whines jokingly as he gets himself back up. We laugh together as the rest of the team slowly gets to the pitch, followed by Mr. Abernathy, who is our coach.

"Run!" He shouts as he reaches us with a load of practise equipment and dumps it on the floor. There is no questioning this so we all set of on a run. It varies how long we have to run for, it depends how long it takes coach to set up the drill and sometimes that is a looong time but under no circumstances can we slow or stop to walk. He is very strict like that. Finnick and I run side by side as we lap the field three times before coach calls as to a halt. Slightly out of breath we trudge our way back to where he is standing, with cones laid out all around him.

"Right, groups of five, pass and follow drill." This brief statement gives us all the information we need. I get into a group with Finnick, Cato and two other team-mates called Marvel and Gale as well. We split into a three and a two and I take a ball as I'm in the group of three. We line up behind the cones and start the drill. After about ten minutes, we are all tired and Abernathy calls us to a stop.

"Game time!" He calls out merrily and starts throwing red vests to random players, splitting us into two teams.

"Oh and reds, pick the cones out." He laughs as the red's start to collect the scattered cones and I'm glad it isn't me. I'm also glad that Cato is going round picking cones up because it means that he's on the other team and luckily enough for me, the position he plays is the one that I defend against. Perfect.

* * *

The whistle blows and the reds take the centre kick and come charging towards us. I start to push up to close the gap so they don't have any time to think about what they are doing whilst keeping an eye on Cato to make sure he doesn't pass me. They try and chip the ball so it goes past our line of defence but it doesn't work as I get my head to it and send it flying back in the other direction allowing our midfielders to snatch it up and make a run for the goal. Finnick is our right winger and he makes a play down the wing and crosses it into the box to be received by another header but it skims past the goal post and they retreat back for a goal kick. Their goalie kicks the ball to be received by the one and only Cato, who turns around and charges. I smirk to myself as he runs to my side of the pitch. I slowly start moving towards him, making sure that I don't miss my target. I let him drift slightly to the side of me, lining him up perfectly. As he reaches the half way line I run as fast as I can and gather speed. He looks up to see me coming and I can see in his body action that he is going to try and swerve past me to the left. As we reach level to each other I throw my legs forward and push my arm back to support my self on the ground, swiping his legs from beneath him he literally face plants the floor as the rest of his body follows and hits the ground in a heap. I swiftly jump back to my feet, mud covering the length of my leg. I smirk as Cato remains on the floor clutching his shoulder. Revenge is beautiful. Finnick runs up to stand at my side and whispers in my ear.

"You've had your moment, help him out." He slightly demands.

"I swear if you wasn't the captain.." I mutter as I move away from him and approach the blonde heap on the floor.

"Dude, you alright?" I try to say in an even voice rather than burst out laughing. I only get a moan in response as he continues to lay face down in the mud.

"Cato! Get up now!" Coach calls out from the sideline. At this new motivation Cato slowly pushes himself up to his feet and kind of stumbles off in a daze. I can't help myself. I burst out laughing without any attempt to control it. I see Finnick looking over to me.

"Oh come on, you can't say that wasn't funny!" I say through my laughs, a pain emerging in my abdominals. His serious face splits and he cracks into a laugh as well.

"Haha, come on, let's get on with the game bro. We don't want coach sniffing around our arses as well" he finished with a chuckle and we both walk over to get in position for the restart. My day has been remade I think as I smirk to myself as the whistle blows.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note; ****Here is another chapter for you :) This is gonna sound really harsh but I need more reviews if I'm going to keep writing this. You need to give to recieve people! So give me some reviews and I'll give you some chapters! Thank you for the reviews you have already given me though :) they have been very motivating :)**

I'm standing in the cafeteria just talking with my friends in the lunch break when I'm distracted as Katniss catches my eye as she walks into the area and in my direction. My friends keep talking but my concentration is fixed on her as she makes a beeline with me, keeping her gaze on mine. I expect her to turn away and walk in another direction or just walk past me or divert her gaze at least but she does none of the above and continues on her way towards me still locking with my eyes. She is feet away from me and I can see determination in her smoky grey eyes as they come ever closer. Her hair is down once again and she looks stunning. As she reaches me, without any warning, she softly grabs the back of my head with her hand, curling it in my hair and pulls my face down to hers and presses her lips to mine in a sensational kiss. I break through my surprise and respond to her movements. I inhale her sweet scent, she smells of pure freshness, there is no other way to describe it and my eyes flutter shut instinctively. I place my hands on either side of her face, feeling the softness of the skin on her cheeks and she pulls me slightly closer to her and pushes her lips harder onto mine, sending heat rushing through me.

* * *

I open my eyes again and instead of seeing Katniss standing in front of me I see the white ceiling of my room. I sigh in disappointment as I try and remember the dream but I can only conjure a haze of what it was. Fuck I need to get over this girl. I raise myself up so that I'm sitting on the edge of my head and rest my head in my hands for a second. Get out of my head, get out of my head, get out of my head! I let my hands fall away from my head and then push myself up from the bed. I throw a t-shirt on (I'm already wearing sweats as I sleep in them) and then walk across my room to the door. I pull it open and start walking down the hall to the staircase. There is already the smell of baking bread wafting through the house so my dad is already awake and working. We live above the bakery as it is the family business now, dad had always wanted to run his own bakery and he took the opportunity when we got back from abroad. I stumble down the stairs to the middle floor of the house where the kitchen and front room are, the bakery is on the bottom floor. As I walk into the kitchen I hear the noise of dishes knocking against each other and realise my mum is up too and my guess is she is doing the washing up. It's too late to turn back and head the other way as she surely heard me coming this way so I reluctantly walk forward.

"Oh, it's about time you got up you lazy little shit! You never get up and help me or your father. You're so damn ungrateful, we give you everything and you don't even try to repay us." She instantly starts nagging me. Me and my mum don't have the best of relationships. Compared to my brother's, I'm the baggage of the family in her eyes, I'm the extra mouth to feed, the one without a future and the one that shouldn't be given a chance.

"Oh, so my brother's are up are they? Where are they? Helping dad? I don't think so." I mutter but not quietly enough.

"You're brothers are hard working boys unlike you so they deserve their sleep you worthless little shit." She yells and throws a piece of cutlery in my direction, which I dodge and then leave the room. Ha, if only she knew what her precious little boys got up to under her watch, sneaking girls in the house, going out drinking after school and claiming to be at sport practise, which I've covered for them so many times by saying they were at football with me. My parents wouldn't know the difference as they never come to our matches, which is mums decision not dads as I know he actually does care about us. My brothers are just something for mum to show off to her friends and neighbours to show how much better a mum she is, yeah right. I trudge back up to my room without the breakfast I was going to get, I'll just have to grab something from dad in the bakery on my way out. I strip off the clothes I have on and throw them into the washing basket in the corner of my room. I walk over to my drawers and pick out a pair of boxers then walk over to my wardrobe and slip on a pair of jeans and take out one of my white t-shirts. I pull it over my head and pull it all the way down. I look in the mirror and see that one of my scars is sticking out of the v-neck as it rises up my chest. Damn it. I take the t-shirt back off and throw it across the room in anger. Why do my scars have to be in plain sight? Why can't they be on my legs or something else? I rustle in my wardrobe again and pick out another shirt with a circular neck hole that clings tightly to my neck, hiding the scar. I pack my school bag with my books for the day and hike it onto my shoulder, picking up my favourite orange hoodie as I leave my room once more. I half jog down the two staircases to avoid my mums wrath and I push open the door to the kitchen of the bakery and find my dad kneading dough by the ovens.

"Morning dad" I call out to him as I shut the door behind me. My dad and I get on really well, I can confide in him about anything and everything and can rely on him but even he doesn't know the truth about my scars.

"Morning son, what have you done this morning? I heard your mother yelling." He asks, halting his kneading and wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. He does know my mum doesn't like me but just not to what extent.

"Oh you know, I breathed I guess..." I chuckle and pick up a scone from a pile on the counter, I raise it slightly and point it in his direction and he gives me a nod telling me I can have it. "Thanks." I say politely as I walk to the fridge to take the jam out to spread on it.

"She loves you really boy, she just wants you to do well in life." He tries to comfort me.

"Got a funny way of showing it" I snort as I finishing spreading the jam and take a bite out of it. It tastes so fricking good, my dad is the best baker around.

"Anyway dad, I've got a big football game next week, can you make it time? I'd love for you to come, coach says there may be professional coaches there looking for recruits for their teams" I ask hopefully. He scratches the back of his head and quietly sighs.

"I'll try my best son.." That's a no then. I nod my head and leave to go to school, hearing my dad sigh once more as I close the door of the bakery.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note; ****Here's just an 'inbetweener' chapter, just some fluff stuff to set up some more of the plot. Let me know what you think and what you want to see. REVIEW PLEASE.**

So we need a group of students who are willing to give up some of their free time to help us plan and organise the annual school film night." I'm already in my English lesson again and the harsh tone of Miss. Trinket's voice wakes me out of a sort of sleep haze.

"So. Peeta Mellark?" She addresses me, I swear she only does this to me, catches me off guard like this and embarrasses me in front of the whole class. I heard her voice but I didn't actually here what she said. I swallow the quick gathering of saliva in my mouth as I try to think of how to find out what she is talking about without giving away that I was actually paying any attention to her but the pairs of eyes that seem to find mine so often are looking in my direction and makes me shift in my seat in discomfort.

"Erm.. Yes?" I say intending it to be a question but Miss didn't seem to take it that way. She smiles wildly and rights something down on her piece of paper, muttering my name as she writes.

"Brilliant, thank you Peeta, it's most kind of you." She says in her sickly sweet voice. I have no idea what's going on. I turn my head to Finnick sitting next to me to see if he can give me some indication of what's going on and it looks like he is about to as he half opens his mouth in preparation for speech but the voice that I hear isn't his, it's Katniss's.

"I wouldn't mind helping out with the movie night." My head springs back in her direction as I realise what I just volunteered for. A soppy romantic night for couples to show each other off, and now I'm one of the people having to make it perfect for them. I internally groan at my stupidity, for now on I am listening to every syllable Miss Trinket says, no matter how dull just to ensure this doesn't happen again. Miss takes down the names of other people volunteering to help out and I prayed that Finnick would volunteer for my sake but he remains quiet in his seat. Very unlike him. I continue writing my essay on the characteristics of Romeo and why Shakespeare made him the way he is whilst thinking about how bad this movie night thing might actually be and possible ideas I could bring up about it so it looks like I'm more enthusiastic about it than I actually am. Maybe an outdoors movie night like you see in films with the huge projector as we normally have it indoors and it's always stuffy and uncomfortable to have to sit in the horrible school chairs for hours.

"I think that is enough for today's lesson! Volunteers, we will be having our first meeting at Friday lunch in here." Miss Trinket calls out and everybody immediately starts shuffling about, packing their bags and scraping chairs against the floor as they leave. Finnick still hasn't said anything to me or made eye contact and he is already leaving the classroom before me, which is also very unlike him, he is normally the slowest person in the class as he makes sure he's straightened out, checking both his hair and his clothes. I pick up my own bag as I make my way to the door, trying to think about what may have happened to make him like this, he was fine this morning.

"I didn't know you were into this kind of thing." Katniss comes from behind me and walks by my side, smiling.

"I'm not really, I prefer to keep my creativity to myself." I smile back to her a hint of a laugh in my voice for some unknown reason.

"So I saw in the library. That flower you were drawing?" She says with what looks like a slight blush. Does she know it was a Katniss flower? Has she made the connection it was about her? I remain silent, looking to the floor so I don't give anything away.

"It was really good Peeta, I think you'll be good planning this kind of thing." She says genuinely nicely. I look back up to her and see a soft smile on her lips. Those beautiful soft looking lips… No Peeta, stop it, I'm not thinking about her like that anymore.

"Thanks, what about you? I thought you were a more keep to yourself person?" I continue the conversation. She smiles as we slowly walk out from the English area and I don't look away from her, giving her my full attention.

"I like to see other people happy." She says honestly "It's one of the only things that make me happy and knowing that I had a role in other people's happiness is the best feeling in the world." She smiles to herself again. I've never seen this sensitive side to her and I thought I knew everything about her, it's nice.

"I get where you're coming from. It also means I'll get to stay out of the house more." I more say to myself than her, this organising committee looking ever-better.

"Why wouldn't you want to go home? Not many people would rather be at school than relaxing at home." She laughs, music playing in my ears and before I can stop myself something cheesy comes out of my mouth.

"It depends who you're with." I immediately regret it as I say it. This could reveal both my family life and my feelings for her. "Do you have any ideas already then?" I hope she doesn't linger on what I just said before. If she did, she isn't showing it thankfully.

"Ermm, I'm not sure but it definitely needs to include food." She laughs and I laugh with her.

"I totally agree, food is the centre of my life being a baker and all." I shove my hands in my pockets as we make our way down the stairs to the 'hang out' section for most of our year.

"A baker who paints… You're like a walking cliché." She keeps laughing, making me smile along.

"Ahh but I am the best kind," I wiggle my eyebrows at her jokingly, receiving yet more laughter. "Are you going to go with anyone to this thing?" I ask subtly or hopefully subtly.

"I'm not quite sure yet, I'll see what happens I guess." I swear this girl doesn't stop smiling but believe me I'm not complaining.

"Yo Beckham! Over here!" I groan as I recognise Clove's voice calling to me. It had to be Clove to interrupt to mine and Katniss's conversation.

"Better go Beckham, you're fans are waiting." She mocks as she starts taking steps backwards away from me, her smile faltering slightly. I don't want her to go but I guess I don't have a choice as she turns fully around and walks away leaving me still standing in the same place watching her go.

"Peeta!" Clove calls out again. Sighing to myself, I make walk over to my friends with a waiting Clove grinning at me like there's no tomorrow.

"Hey guys."


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note; ****Please, please, please review! I need to know how this story is going down with you guys so I know whether to scrap it or continue it!**

So it's the first meeting for the school movie night and Miss Trinket has us all sitting around a circular table in the library 'pitching' our ideas, so she calls it. To be completely honest, I've enjoyed being on the committee, it's a lot more creative than I thought it would be, I thought it would be more running around and lifting things.

"So Peeta, what idea's do you have?" Miss Trinket asks me her eyes piercing through mine. I take out some drawings from my bag that I sketched up about my visions for the night and start to show them and go through them to her. I pick up the first one which shows the decorations around the projector placed outside on the field.

"Basically, I have the idea of having an outdoor movie night with picnic blankets for people to sit at and camping chairs. I also thought we could string fairy lights on the surrounding trees to give some light and make it more, well, magical." Ergh that sounded so cheesy, I'm such a dork. "And I thought this year maybe we can offer some kind of picnic baskets of food, maybe three different sizes with different prices for those who'd rather have a proper meal rather than bringing in random junk food. We would take orders before of course to make sure we don't over spend on the food." I explain as I hand the sketches over to Miss. She stands silent for a moment as she studies them and I see her mutter something to herself but I cant hear what she is actually saying and once again I seem to be attracting everybody's gaze but this time is different, it isn't the piercing, questioning stares that I have somehow become accustom to but at least in the girl's case there is softness in them accompanied by soft smiles where as the guys keep their attention on the teacher. This group is consisted of about four girls and two guys, not including me.

"I really, really like it…" She kind of tells herself before she repeats it in a much louder and higher tone. She starts handing my sketches to everyone else to look at and for some reason why all the girls start whispering to each other and take glances at me.

"I think this is the idea we are going to use." Miss Trinket calls out. Wow, I really must be cheesy if my ideas were picked for the movie night. The meeting didn't take any interesting turns from that point on, it was mainly picking out dates, caterers and fine tuning my ideas. After half an hour we're dismissed so I gather all my sketches and plans together, carefully sliding them into my bag and head for the door.

"Peeta hang on second!" Someone calls out as I'm just about to leave the library. I turn around to see a blonde haired girl jogging up to me smiling.

"Hey, I'm Delly." She says through a wide smile, her blonde, curled hair bounces with each step she takes before coming to a halt in front of me.

"Hey. I guess you already know who I am." I laugh. She seems like a nice girl. She returns my laugh with a lot of enthusiasm and that means a lot.

"Yeah, can I just say that I think you're amazing. Those pictures you drew, you're ideas and I know you're a footballer as well." Her words come out in a rushed manner and I can't help but smile as her face turns a slight shade of red and how her smile never leaves her face. I can also smell a sweet perfume coming from her as she re-adjusts her bag but it a sickly kind of sweet not a natural sweetness like the smell of Katniss.

"Thanks" I smile. "Have you watched us play a game?" I keep the conversation going easily as she seems eager to keep talking anyway. Everyone else is leaving the class now and so is Katniss. I turn my attention from Delly to her for the slightest moment in time to see her glance at me, her face set like stone as she walks past me and slightly bumps into me before leaving. Huh.

"Yeah, I've always loved watching the games, it's such a good environment, all the school coming together to support you guys." Delly's voice pulls my attention back to her and I quickly smile again as not to upset her. I gesture her to go through the door to get out of the classroom and I follow her out.

"We've got a big game coming up, you coming to that?" I say, my eyes searching the area around us but finding it pretty empty.

"Of course! I'll see you there!" She says brightly, flashes me a smile and walks off in front of me clutching her books in a hug like fashion and within seconds she too is gone. I look at the time and see that the meeting has gone over school ending time by about half an hour so I turn off to the left and start to make my way home.

* * *

I fiddle with my keys in my pocket as I reach my front door and slide them into the lock. I push open the door and take the key back out, closing the door behind me. Out of nowhere a searing pain shoots across my arm, burning but then with something warm as well. I instinctively clutch it to try and stop the pain that is making my whole arm actually shake. Then the same pain hits me on the shoulder and all I can do is drop to my knees.

"Ahhh!" I can't help but cry out as the pain gets too much and my vision starts to blur.

"Where have you been? I've had enough of you not doing your chores!" My mother shouts out from behind me and emerges into my swimming vision, a fireplace poker in her hand with my blood on it. I struggle to push myself up from the floor and face her.

"I was at school!" My voice isn't as loud as I wanted it to be really but at least I could still be heard. I grip my arm tighter as I can feel droplets of blood dripping down my arm. Without saying another word I quickly run upstairs as the pain is becoming unbearable. I run into the bathroom and lock the door behind me. I slowly and as delicate as possible, peel my hoodie and my t-shirt off as it sticks to my arm.

"Fuck,fuck,fuck." I have to say to stop myself from yelling as some of the blood has dried and it keeping my clothes attached to the cut. I finally get it off and see a long, deep cut present on my arm, blood still flowing out, just as is my shoulder. Knowing this routine too well I rummage in a small cupboard under the sink and pull out some bandages and some healing cream I bought the first time my mum hit me. I clean the blood with water, spread the cream over the cut, with much agony and wrap the bandage round and round the injuries. Another two scars to count with the others.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note; ****Another chapter for you guys! :) There is some exciting stuff coming up so keep reviewing, following and favouriting if you want it! Thanks :))**

I wake up by the familiar shooting pain of my shoulder. I've obviously just rolled over onto my other side to the side that was attacked with the fireplace poker last night.

"Argggh!" I cant help the moan that escapes my lips as I try and push myself up into a sitting position without moving the cuts too much, which obviously didn't work. I look down to the bandage on my arm to see it as turned from white to dangerously red and even the sight of it makes me feel slightly dizzy. Looking over to my clock I see its only six o'clock but I know trying to get back to sleep would just be a futile plan so I get up anyway even though I'm like two hours early. I pick up the longest sleeved and thickest jumper I own and so delicately pull it over my head with more grunts and unimaginable pain I've ever experienced. Now I'm all covered up from the eyes of my family I make my way downstairs to get some food seeing as though I didn't eat last night, running away from my mum and passing out and all that commotion and I'm absolutely starving. I walk into the kitchen to find my mum and dad already sitting at the table, eating some of the stale bread left over bread from the shop from yesterday. My eyes find my mother's straight away as they look at me dangerously and linger over my arm, which is positioned in a different way from normal to try and stop the pain and for less blood to reach the still slightly open cut.

"Morning." I try and say as casually as possible and without any difference in my voice or wincing.

"Morning son." My dad is the only one to reply but he doesn't look up to me as he butters some more bread and my mum keeps her death stare on me. "You're up early."

"Yeah, I didn't sleep too well. I didn't seem to be able to get comfortable." I say with a shrug of my shoulders, then wincing once more as I had temporarily forgotten the movement of my right hand side of my body would make me nearly pass out in pain at which both my mum and dad notices.

"What's wrong boy?" My dad steps over to me looking ready to inspect me to which my mums eyes widen quickly at the realisation he might see what she had done to me and I know my dad wouldn't put up with it. If she wasn't my real mother I wouldn't hesitate to tell my dad what she does but I'm no home wrecker and it's not like my mum would give me a chance to tell him just like now as she interjects.

"Oh it's nothing, I looked at it last night, he got scraped in football yesterday didn't you Peeta?" She says very convincingly and with a half smile on her face as it looks like she is such a good mother checking up on her son after rugby, ha! But I go along with the story.

"Oh yeah, studs on a muddy day are the worst, feet are flying by everywhere." I try and laugh, so it isn't a very convincing one, it's not even logical to think I've got these injuries from playing football. I'm so not like my mum, I'm not trained in the art of deception and cruelty or at least I hope I'm not, I'd like to think I'm not at least. My dad accepts the lie and nods his head, taking his seat at the table. I walk over a grab a piece of bread from the plate and leave the kitchen again, my mum's eyes following me the whole time.

* * *

Only one more day until the weekend is the thought that is keeping my going today, one more day. Like every Friday, nothing too exciting has happened today just the normal Johanna getting told off for being rude of making jokes about the teachers, Finnick charming his way into girls hearts that he probably wont try and talk to again but today a few new people have been trying to talk to me, all the girls from the movie night committee have waved, smiled, said hi to me and even started up conversations. But Delly Cartwright hasn't left me alone all day! She's a nice person and all but damn can she talk about a load of crap, I'm not sure whether that's her trying to keep a conversation going or just her being her but it can get a little annoying after a while. Even now, after leaving my Biology classroom I can see her from across the shared area looking over to me and start to make her way over so I quickly scan the people around me to find somebody to talk to before she gets to me. The first person my eyes land on is Johanna, that's fine by me.

"Hey Jo, you alright? Did you get in much trouble for talking about that teacher's wife?" I ask over her shoulder which makes her jump really bad and makes me laugh so hard as the surprise dies down from her eyes and is replied by an evil stare.

"That's not funny Mellark, I thought you were Mr. Snow!" She punches my arm in a playful manner and much to her surprise I shout out in pain as she hit directly where my deep fireplace poker cut it. I clutch is as hard as possible and grit my teeth from saying anything or from making any noise at all really but it's a bit too late for that as the people surrounding me and Johanna look over to us in alarm from my shout. Even Katniss is looking over as stand a bit away but her face isn't surprised as the others bus more concerned and curious,

"Jesus Peet, sorry I didn't mean to hurt you." Johanna says apologetically stepping closer to take my arm. I pull it away from her slightly so as not to be rude by jerking it away but also not letting her touch it so I decide to get my way out of this by joking.

"Don't touch me you bully! How can you punch someone with a face like mine?" I cry in mockery which must have worked as Johanna starts to laugh and withdraws her hands from near my arm.

"Erggh, you're starting to sound like Cato." She keeps laughing which makes me smile. Although she can come across as rude, Johanna is alright. I look back over my shoulder to find everybody's eyes have turned back to their own conversations and I catch the flick of a braid as Katniss's hair swings across her back with each step as she walk away but she looks over her shoulder once at me and gives me a sad kind of smile and walks out of the door. I so don't get girls, like at all.

"So Peet, what you doing this weekend?" Jo asks as I turn my head back around to her.

"Erm, not much why?" I reply.

"I was actually thinking of having a party at my house if you're interested?"

"Yeah sure, I'll ask my dad and let you know." I smile in reply, it would be good to get out of the house for the weekend.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note; ****Hi guys, heres a nice long chapter and a quick update for you! All I ask in return is that you review please please please! i love hearing from you and the nice comments and ideas help me write faster, today being an example, I had nice reviews last night so I am updating quickly for you, think about it :))**

With a lot of persuasion on my part, I was allowed to go to Johanna's party, it only took such a long time because my mum had walked in on my dad and I talking about it and gave her unwanted opinions trying to get my dad to keep me in the house to do even more chores but dad stuck to his guns and said I deserved a night out, to which I strongly agreed. So here I am walking up to Johanna's house, a six pack of beer in my hand. Johanna's house isn't a big grand house but it isn't a small house either, her parents aren't around often as they work late which is why Jo's house is always a popular venue for parties. I straighten out the collar of my polo shirt and knock on the door. I can already hear loud music playing from inside so know the party has already started, nobody starts playing music before guests get there so you don't look desperate for a good party. After only a couple of seconds the door swings open to reveal Jo standing with a drink already in hand.

"Peet! You made it!" She exclaims, gesturing me to come inside and then gripping me in a one armed hug. My greeting is to raise the beer in my hand to her with a smile.

"Ahh! Great, you brought beer!" She exclaims with equal enthusiasm and takes the pack form my hand. I step in further and she shuts the door behind me. Looking around I see there is quite a crowd gathered in the joined kitchen and front room already so either the party started a while ago or everyone was eager to get here. Our group of friends are all here, Finnick and Cato are already at work, mingling with a group of girls in one corner of the room and Clove is over where all the drinks are set out talking to some other girl from school which I don't know.

"So, drinks over there, garden out there, bathroom up there and to the left, have fun." Johanna smiles as she points out each area as I've never actually been in her house before. I nod in thanks as she wanders over to the drinks as well and pours herself what looks like a vodka and coke, whispering to Clove who then looks up from concocting her own drink and smiles and waves to me. With a deep breath I walk over to where they are as I'm in need of a drink.

"Hey." I simply say but with another smile to Clove as I pick up a bottle of beer and the bottle opener off of the counter.

"Hey you." She says in a song-like voice. I pop the top off my bottle with the bottle opener and take a long gulp of the liquid inside, it instantly makes me feel utterly relaxed.

"How long you been here?" I face her and ask, resting against the counter.

"Pretty much from the start, I didn't want to miss anything." She says and her eyes light up with a hint of excitement. Of course she didn't, Clove has always been the kind of girl that needs to know everything that's going on but I don't hold that against her and describe it as just an interest in the people around her. Her smile never falters as she keeps her eyes trained on mine making me feel the slightest bit uncomfortable so I glance elsewhere and meet the eyes of Finnick.

"Peeta! When did you get here?!" He calls out, pushing his way past the people in-between us as he makes his way over here. His shout caught Cato's attention as well and he accompanied Finnick on his battle over here.

"Just got here man." I say as they finally reach where I am. Finnick pats me on the shoulder in greeting making me wince uncontrollably but luckily neither of them realise as Finnick has taken a swig of his drink and Cato was still scoping the area for girls like a predator. The cuts inflicted upon me by my dear mum had only just started healing and were still really sensitive but there was nothing I could really do but wait for them to scar over.

"You got any plans for this party then?" Cato asks over his shoulder, his head facing me but his body still facing the crowd, leaning on the counter beside me. His forwardness makes me laugh and shake my head in slight disbelief even though it is Cato I'm talking about.

"Haha, no man I'm just here for a fun time today. I'm just in need of a break from everything." I reply honestly. I have no expectations for tonight but just to hang out with my friends if they're not too busy scouting for girls.

* * *

The party has been going for a while now and more and more people have been flooding in making it nearly impossible to move anywhere at this point, some of the people here I don't even recognise so are not from our school and must have come from somewhere else. I've mostly been sticking with my normal group and not wanting to branch out to talk to others although I have spotted some other people like Katniss and Gale amongst others.

"Hey Peeta, I just want you to know you look so hot tonight." I turn my head to see a very drunk Clove standing very, very close to me. I'm about to reply when she leans up and crashes her lips against mine forcefully and actually a painfully. Out of shock I don't react straight away but when my senses come back to me I try and make her stop without hurting her feelings in her drunken state.

"No… Clove, stop." I say as I try to gently push her away from me by her shoulders. She fights to stay attached to me but after a couple of seconds I manage to prise her off of me. God damn it, I thought she understood that I didn't like her in that way. Her eyes show pain and sadness as she backs away slightly before turning around and walking away from where I stand slightly surprised still. Great, that's our friendship probably ruined. I rake one of my hands through my hair and turn and climb the steps on the way to the bathroom. As I reach the door of what I assume to be the bathroom with thoughts racing through my head when I hear a voice.

"Leave me alone, I'm not into you." The voice is coming from one of the rooms and I cringe as I realise someone is getting shot down which must suck.

"Oh come on, I can make you feel like you've never felt before." Another, deeper voice pushes. I'm about to pull on the door handle to go into the bathroom when I hear the first voice change to a more urgent, panicked voice.

"Let go of me! Get off!" They shout.

"Just shut up." After that there are a few muffled shouts and adrenaline surges through my body as a race down the hall, opening door after door until I find the one where the voices are coming through. I swing the door open to find a large guy with blonde hair hovering over some girl on the bed and he is trying to unbutton their jeans whilst keeping a hand over their mouth. Shit! It's Cato!  
"Cato! Get off of her!" I shout out and rush forward, grabbing him by the shoulders and pulling him off of the girl and off of the bed. My breath literally stops as I see that it is Katniss lying on the bed. She looks terrified, a look I've never seen on her as she hastily sorts out her clothes, re-covering her chest. Fury, That's the only thing I feel now, not guilt for Clove or sickness from the beers, plain, white, blinding fury at Cato for doing this to her. I turn around on the spot to see Cato sitting on the floor, back against the wall with a look of surprise, shock and maybe guilt on his face as he holds his head in his hands but at this moment in time, I couldn't give a shit what he is feeling.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" I yell at him as I approach where he is. "What the fuck do you think you are doing? How could you do this to a girl?" My anger is getting dangerously high. A kind of sob comes from Cato's mouth and I see a tear slide down his face.

"I…I don't know…. I didn't mean to.. I'm.. I'm so s.. ." He stutters his head still hanging in his hands. This has no affect on me what so ever and I raise a fisted hand, ready for the attack on this sick bastard but another hand stops my assault.

"Peeta no. Don't do this, you'd be just like him if you did. He's drunk Peeta." Her soft voice bring me from my rage as I look at her face. Her eyes are shining from unshed tears but have determination in them and something else, pity as they flicker to Cato still huddled on the floor. My arm relaxes slightly as her face calms me.

"Come on, I'm taking you home." I remove my arm from her grasp and lead her down the stairs and out of the house. We walk in silence for a while, me keeping my eyes peeled for any dangers whilst Katniss walks and twiddles her fingers nervously until I cannot stand the silence anymore.

"Katniss, I'm so, so sorry." I offer as my head drops slightly in shame over my supposed friend.

"Why are you sorry? You saved me." She answers and looks up to my face but I cant return her look.

"But he was meant to be my friend. I knew he liked you and I should have warned you. I should have kept an eye out but I didn't even think about it. If I had been a minute later he would have… you would…" Speech as failed me once more whilst talking to her. There are no words to express the depth of apology and shame and guilt. She catches my arm and forces me to look at her.

"But you weren't a minute later, you came before he could do anything." She tries to reassure me or comfort me, I don't know which but it is stupid, I should be the one comforting her seeing as though she was the one who was nearly raped. We're at her house now so we come to a stop outside her door.

"Thanks for everything Peeta, I wont forget this." She says and I can see that she is trying to smile but like I would expect, how could she after what she just went through?

"Oh I hope you do, I don't want those memories and images haunting you." I say honestly shoving my hands in my pockets. I couldn't live with myself if she was forever tormented with the thoughts that my friend, someone I trusted had tried to rape her, I guess I didn't know Cato as well as I thought I did.

"Well, I better go in and see my sister is ok." She says quietly.

"Ok, I hope you're ok. I'll see you around Katniss." Is the only thing I can bare to say at this point and I walk away from her before she has started walking up to her front door not being able to look at her sad expression any longer but as I get to the end of the road again I look over my shoulder to make sure she gets inside her house safetly.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note; ****So much drama in Peeta's life! What? You like it? Well heres another chapter for you :) I was thinking of doing a Katniss POV chapter but thought against it wanting her to remain more of a mystery, just as Peeta would see her. Enjoy and please leave review!**

I woke up with a thin layer of sweat covering my entire body from torturous dreams of Katniss getting hurt and not being able to help her but having to watch the pain she endured. I fought and fought for these images to leave my head now but nothing is good enough to be able to distract my mind from seeing them. Pinching the bridge of my nose I get up from my bed to make my way to the bathroom to rid me of this uncomfortable sweat, not bothering to throw anything over my boxers seeing as though its one in the morning and nobody will be up. In the darkness I wander up the hallway until I reach the bathroom door and push it open. As I try and find the light switch so I can actually see anything I accidently knock some shampoo from a shelf, sending it crashing into the bath and sliding down to the tap side, making a load of noise.

"Shit!" I mumble as I walk over to and pick it backup and place it on the shelf. I pick up my flannel from its hook and dampen it with cold water from the sink tap and start to wipe my brow. The coldness is comforting as it removes the memories of my dreams. Bowing down again to the sink to rinse it and wet it once more, I didn't notice the figure standing in the door watching me but as I rise again I see it in the mirror above, looking at me with a shocked face.

"Dad, sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I was trying to turn on the light and the shampoo bottle it.." I explain in the most apologetic voice I can but he cuts me off before I can finish.

"Peeta.. What's happened to you?" He asks and moves forward very slightly, a very worried look played on his face. I don't understand, why would there be something wrong with my just because I knocked over a bottle? It was just an accident.

"What do you mean?" I ask really confused until he steps forward and traces something over my pectoral and I gasp as I know exactly what's there, a scar. It's then I realise I'm only in my boxers so he can see every scar and cut I have. My mind races to find an excuse for their presence but nothing sounds legitimate enough to cause such scars.

"Oh, erm, most of them are from football, I told you, studs can be really dangerous on a wet, muddy day, especially as a defender. The others are from way back.." Even as the words are coming out of my mouth I know he won't believe them, even though he knows nothing about football.

"They're all exactly the same." He says as he looks over me, his eyes widening as he spots the fresher ones on my shoulder and arm. "They look like.." He stops his sentence and I can see him working out something in his head. Then before I know it, he turns and leaves the bathroom. I poke my head out of the door and see him walking back into his room and turning the light on. Shit. I run back to my own room as I hear loud but muffled voices coming from my parent's room. Dad must have made the connection between the scars and the shape of the fireplace poker. I just reach my room as I hear dad shout

"How could you do that to your own son?" I can hear my mum say something in response but It's nowhere near as loud as dad so I can't hear what she is saying to defend herself. I try and listen as best I can so I can be prepared for whatever is going to happen. I hear the shuffling of two pairs of feet and my heartbeat shoots up my parents come towards my room. I hold my breath as I hear them get closer but release if in relief as it is only my brothers coming in. They express the same look my dad did when they look at me, oh right, I'm still not wearing a shirt to cover myself. I quickly go to my drawer and pick out a random one and pull it over my head, not even wincing from pain because of the slight adrenaline coursing through my veins in anticipation.

"Shit Peet! Is that why they're fighting?!" Rye, my eldest brother exclaims, gesturing towards my top half whilst sitting on the edge of my bed. I lower my head in response which is all they need for the answer as my other brother, Kyle sits down.

"How long has this been going on?" Kyle asks with sympathy in his voice.

"A while." I mutter out, pulling some sweat pants out as well, now feeling conscious of my boxers with everyone in my room.

"Why did you never say anything? We always knew you and mum didn't get on but really Peet? You couldn't tell us?" Kyle asks as he rakes his hand through his hair, just like I do when I'm nervous or stressed. Another loud shout echoes down the hall and we all lift our head to the door as dad walks in.

"Come on son, I'm taking you to a hospital to get those fresh cuts checked over and see if they can give you anything for the scars." His says with an authority I've never heard from him before. He then directs his attention to my brothers.

"Boys, you can either come or wait here but your mother will be here packing too." He says and my brothers instantly get up as if telling him they are coming. We all get up and leave the house, getting into dad's car. The first part of the drive is awkwardly silent, nobody really knowing what to say, it was obvious mum was leaving the house and nobody really could talk to me about what she had did to me probably out of shame or guilt or something like that until my dad spoke up.

"I'm so, so sorry Peeta. I should have seen what was happening. What kind of father doesn't realise when his wife is abusing their son?" He says in a quiet tone and I swear I see a tear slip down his cheek but it's hard to tell in the darkness of the car as it's till only quarter past one. I don't really know what to say back to him as how harsh as it seems, how could he not know? It's been happening for long enough, maybe it was just me being good at covering it up. My brothers stay silent in the back seats as I'm in the front.

"Your mum's leaving and staying at her sisters. I'm not going to let her touch you ever again. Your home should be a place of safety and without her it would be. I know it isn't enough to take away what's happened but I'm going to try to be a better dad." He carries on and it kind of breaks my heart as I love my dad. He's a great dad to us and has never done anything wrong with me and my brothers and the fact he is blaming this on himself is sad to see but I have no comforting words. After that nobody says anything else as the lights in the streets increase until we reach the hospital.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note; **** Sorry it's been so long, I've been super, super busy, i shouldn't really be writing now but I wanted to get another chapter to you before my exam week starts this week to keep you going. Please, please, please review! I love to hear from you!**

Chapter 29

By the time we got back, she was gone. She left the majority of her things and it looks like she just took a bag full of clothes, which means that she was planning on coming back. The hospital didn't really do much for me, they said the newer cuts were too far along the healing process for anything like stiches so they just gave me some cream to help with the visibility of the scars, apparently I'd done really well not to catch an infection due to the size of the cuts. There wasn't any more talking between my brothers, my father and I and so I had silently retreated to my room, leaving them in the front room and simply went to bed.

"Peeta, it's time you normally get up but if you don't want to go to school today, you really don't have to." I struggle to break out of my sleep as I rub my eyes to see my dad sitting on the edge of the bed looking over at me.

"No, I want to go to school. I can't just sit around doing nothing. Nothing has changed." I mumble out as I start freeing my legs from the warm grasp of my blanket and raise myself out of bed.

"Well, do you need a lift or anything?" The guilt is evident in his voice as he tries to help compensate for my years of pain. The thought that giving me a lift to school could make any difference annoys me slightly until I look over to him and actually see the pained expression on his face. I remind myself that it wasn't him that did anything and the fact that he now knows my secret now, shouldn't change my relationship with him as I was never annoyed with him before.

"No dad, I'm fine, seriously." I say in a less harsh voice than before. He simply nods his head slowly and gets up from the bed as well. With a last glance he turns and leaves my room, quietly clicking the door closed behind him. I don't know why the revelation of what my mother did to me is having such a big effect on what I feel for my dad. I would say I should be happy that he knows and has taken care of my mum, but what kind of son does that make me? A son that is happy over his parents possibly splitting up isn't a good one.

* * *

It felt like I was back to reality when I got to school. Nothing here had changed and that's how I liked it, familiarity. I got here quite earlier than normal as I wanted to evade the tension back home, so I headed over to the canteen to get myself a coffee as if ever I needed one, it was after a day like yesterday. Sipping the piping hot beverage I made my way to the table my friends and I regularly it at. To my surprise, Finnick is already sitting there. He's not even doing anything, he's just sitting. As I approach his head turns at the sound of my steps getting closer.

"Dude, I heard what happened!" Is the first thing that leaves his mouth as I sit down opposite him. A bolt of panic shoots through me like electricity. How the hell could he know what's happened to me? Why would my brothers or dad even tell him? My mind races for something to say.

"Finnick listen..." I start to try and tell him to keep this to himself but he quickly interrupts me.

"I can't believe Cato tried that! Even if it wasn't Katniss, I can't believe it! Thank god you heard it man, and well, thank god you were sober enough to do anything!" He rambles on. Oh right, Johanna's party. I completely forgot about that after all the crap that happened yesterday.

"How many people know?" I ask.

"Quite a few. A load of people saw you taking her out of the house and then they found Cato in the bedroom who kept muttering 'sorry' and they kind of put two and two together." He explains. Fuck, I was hoping nobody would know for Katniss' sake. I rake my hand through my hair as I try to think of anyway of twisting the story so people wouldn't know Katniss was nearly raped but the evidence against me may be too great to oppose. I wonder if she would even come in to school today, I know I wouldn't if I was her. Actually, I wonder if Cato will dare show his face around.

"If that doesn't set you two up, I don't know what will!" Finnick suddenly chuckles. Really? Because I really am supposed to be expecting Katniss to leap at me now for stopping Cato from breaking the law and violating her.

"That's disgusting Fin." I groan and he simply laughs, oddly making me laugh too. This guy is such an idiot, but I think that's why we're friend to be honest.

* * *

I was on my way to the library for another film night meeting when I saw her, her braid bouncing on her back with the rhythm of her steps. I felt a need to talk to her, so for once in my life I actually hurried over to her to catch her attention.

"Hey, Katniss!" I call to her as I jog over to her before she reaches the library door, obviously heading for the meeting also.

"I'm fine ok! Can't you all just leave me alone for five minutes?!" She whips round and yells. I instinctively step back from her to create distance, I guess get that from being yelled at from mum. I don't really know what to say so I quickly look to the floor. I guess coming over to talk to her was a really bad idea.

"Oh shit, Peeta! I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was you!" She says as she realises it's me but my gaze still doesn't leave the carpet. "Peeta, I'm sorry, please look at me again. I could use a genuine friend's face." She continues with a really soft tone. _Friend. _That word kind of stings. I hesitantly look back at her and see she is smiling at me.

"Been a long day huh?" I ask. I see her deflate slightly as she releases a big breath.

"I feel almost claustrophobic. Everyone is sorry, or wants to do things for me. I don't like the sympathy." That's exactly why I hope nobody found out, because everyone's personality changes. Even if it's someone you hate and they here that you've been through some shit, they turn into your best friend and it really is fucking irritating. And Katniss really isn't the kind of person to accept all the sympathy, like she just did with me, she will become more hostile to try block out the pain.

"Don't worry, you won't get any of that from me. To be honest I think you need to man the fuck up and get over yourself." I say sarcastically and wink at her. Her face cracks with a large smile as her laughter fills my ears and I instantly smile at her, happy to see the stress leave her face.

"Haha thanks!" She says, catching her breath.

"No problem, I'm always here to insult you at your request." I smile at her.

"No seriously, thank you for everything Peeta. I don't know what I would have done if you didn't come along that night." The smile has left her face and her gaze is now avoiding mine, so I move closer to her once more so she will look at me.

"Again, I'm always here for you Katniss. Always will, always have been." I tell her, my hands on her shoulders so I know she is facing me and listening to me. Her lips curve once more in a beautiful smile and then she does something I wasn't expecting. She moves into my arms and wraps hers around my waist and holds on in a tight hug. It doesn't take my body even a second to react as my arms wrap around her and my chin leans down on her shoulder as her head is rested on my chest.

"Always." I repeat myself in a whisper.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note; ****Sorry for the wait, I'm having some serious writers block and motivation problems so I'm if this isn't all that good.**

I throw myself down on one of the sofas in the sofa area after the maths lesson from hell. I will never understand when I will ever need to use algebra in my life. Finnick, Clove and Johanna are already sitting here talking about something that my mind cannot grasp as it shuts down into sleep mode from the overload of information from maths class. I give the guys a smile of greeting but then take out my headphones and put them on, letting the calmness of acoustic music wash over me and I shut my eyes. I have it quiet enough so I can hear what is transpiring around me but loud enough to stay disconnected. It's not long before I feel the sofa sag ever so slightly beside me as someone sits down but I don't acknowledge them until I get a prompt nudge in the arm. I lazily open my eyes and look to my left to see Katniss smiling at me. I practically rip the earphones from my ears and sit up straight without hesitation.

"Hey." She says with a small laugh, probably from my rush getting my headphones off. It's been a week since our little 'heart to heart' talk and we have been spending a lot more time together. She changed her seats in class to sit next to or nearer to me in every class we share and she often, like now, comes and joins my little group at lunch times and she fits in just fine. Everyone has really taken to her. I'm not sure if it's just for my sake but I really don't think it is, I think they genuinely like her, it's hard not to. Cato hasn't come back to school yet since the party but all the gossip and fuss over what happened has died down, which I'm grateful for. The superman jokes were getting ridiculous, most of them coming from Finnick actually but also for Katniss' sake. She seems a lot happier now than she was that day she snapped at me.

"Hey, how are you?" I reply chucking my bag on the floor from beside me and shifting over on the sofa so Katniss could shift over from sitting on the edge.

"I'm alright. I can't wait till the holidays, I need some r and r." She laughs again.

"Come over here and I can rock your world." Finnick chimes in with a wink. What a corny bastard. It makes me laugh anyway.

"Even if Idid mean rock and roll, I doubt you'd be up for the challenge Fin." Katniss says back with a slightly smug but extremely sexy grin.

"If I can't, who the hell in this world can?" Finnick says with a worryingly serious face and his eyes flicker to mine. Oh dear god, really? I can feel the redness creeping up in my cheeks and I pray that Katniss replies with something witty to cover this but it's not her that speaks first, it's Clove.

"So the film night isn't that long away, who are you all inviting to go?" She says with a cough but avoids all eye contact. Of course Finnick is the first one to pipe up.

" I've had my eye on this one girl in my science class, her names Annie. I think I might turn the charm on and ask her." He says with a huge grin. It's not the cocky or seductive one or even the teasing kind of one he normally displays when he is talking about girls, it looks like a genuine smile. A big one. This Annie must have really made an impression on him as I've never seen that smile grace his face whilst he's talking about a girl.

"What about you? Who are you asking?" He asks Clove back, putting his arm on the back of the sofa where Johanna is sitting next to him. Back to normal Finnick again. Clove goes silent for a second and looks down at her lap. Maybe something is wrong with her, is she upset over something? Just when I'm about to ask her, she looks up at me with some kind of sparkle in her eye. Oh crap. She's going to ask me. Crap, crap, crap. Everyone else notices just after I do and I feel the stares of Johanna and Finnick on me but that realisation goes away when I realise something else, Katniss has tensed up next to me. I glance at her over my shoulder to see her looking intently at Clove, almost as if urging her on. The silence is overwhelming and I'm trying my best to keep calm.

"What about you Katniss? Are you going to ask anyone?" Johanna pipes up, cutting though the silence and tension. Now it's my turn to tense up, it's like my body has seized, waiting for her answer to see who had the capability to win her over. In a way I hope she says she isn't going to ask anyone as knowing what this film night is going to be like, it would be a torturous night having to watch some guy swoon over her.

"Well, I'm not going to tell until I've actually asked him." She says with yet another grin. In that instant my mind starts racing to think of excuses for not turning up to the night and I slouch back in my spot as the conversation carries on. I bet it's Gale. Of course it is.

"Well you better ask quickly, the night is soon approaching and everyone is going to get taken soon and whoever caught your eye may be one of the first to go." Finnick jokingly warns. What the fuck is his problem? Why is he egging her on to go ask some guy out when he knows how much I like her? I intend to give him a death stare but when I look up to him he is smiling at me. What the hell is he smiling at? He's my best friend and all but he can be a douche sometimes.

* * *

The rest of that lunch time was taken up by the conversation of the film night and honestly I was sick to death with talking about it with all the meetings we have been having about it with Miss. Trinket and the incredibly awkwardness of the Clove thing so I'd plugged back in one of my headphones so that I could let my mind wander but still be open to engaging in conversation and not being rude.

By the end of school I felt like a walking zombie, it had been such a long day. I offered to help out in the bakery when I got in as there is nothing better to relieve stress than to knead dough and it's one of my favourite things to do. My dad was glad for the help as it was quite a busy day, so he went out to the front of the shop to tend to the customers whilst I stayed in the back making loaf upon loaf of bread to loud music. I was absolutely covered in flour by this point and my arms were starting to fatigue from the sheer pressure I was using to knead this dough but I carry on as I feel myself calm down from the stressful day. As I'm putting another tray of bread into the oven I hear my dad call me from the front.

"Peet! There's someone here for you!" I wipe my hands on my apron and walk curiously out into the front of the shop, I never get visitors here, except Finnick when he comes for free food of course but he normally just strolls through into the kitchen. There's quite a little crowd queued up at the counter as I walk over to my dad.

"Yeah dad?" I ask trying to pick out someone waiting for me. Being quite a small town, all the faces in the shop are familiar and I guess anybody could be here to talk to me. My dad doesn't have time to answer before someone calls out.

"Hey Peeta!" I instantly recognised the way my name is said and my eyes shoot around the room in search for her braid but I can't see it. Then my eyes catch on to her. Her hair has been let down and is falling in waves over her shoulders, her plump lips are turned up into a small smile and her grey eyes have taken on a misty look. She's so beautiful and I can't help thinking it.

"Hey, can we talk?" She says as she walks over to where I'm standing behind the counter.

"Erm yeah, sure. Let's go in the back, it's a lot less crowded and noisy." I say as I direct her though to the kitchen. She takes a minute to take in the scene around her. I can see her eyes scanning over every detail of the kitchen, soaking it in as she slowly moves around. I wait and watch until she speaks after feeling satisfied that she has seen everything she needs to about the kitchen.

"So what's up?" I ask pulling her out of her little trance as I shove my hands in my pockets. "Finnick tell you about the cakes?" I laugh but she doesn't laugh back, she is standing in the middle of the kitchen looking over at the oven silently.

"Are you ok? What's wrong?" I ask concerned as I walk over to her. She still doesn't look at me but slightly impatient, I tip her chin up gently with my hand so she is looking at me.

"Gale and I got into a kind of fight." She sighs out. I always knew Gale was a hot tempered person, quite like Katniss actually but I've never known them to have a fight, they've always been too close.

"What happened?"

"He asked me to the film night thing and I told him I didn't want to go with him." She says a little quietly and I only just picked up what she said over the noise coming from the shop. That really took me back, I was certain he was who she was asking to go with her anyway.

"I want to go with you."


End file.
